Spectacle lenses shown to slow myopia progression
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Spectacle lenses with aspheric lenslets, also known as the Essilor Stellest lenses, were found to significantly slow myopia progression and axial elongation in children, according to results from a 2-year clinical trial presented at the virtual Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting.
The study had two objectives: to assess if spectacles with aspherical lenslets could slow myopia progression in children and to evaluate if there was a dose-dependent effect of lenslet asphericity, Jinhua Bao, an associate director of the Wenzhou Medical University–Essilor International Research Centre, said in her presentation.
Bao and colleagues randomized 170 Chinese children between 8 and 13 years old with myopia between 0.75 D and 4.75 D to wear one of three spectacle designs.
One design used highly aspherical lenslets (HAL), one used slightly aspherical lenslets (SAL), and single vision lenses (SVL) were used as the control, according to the study.
The Stellest lenses incorporate HALT technology, which consists of a constellation of aspherical lenslets spread on 11 rings designed to create a volume of signal that slows down the elongation of the eye, Essilor said in a press release. The power of lenslets on each ring was determined to guarantee a volume of signal always in front of the retina and following its shape to achieve consistent myopia slow-down, the company said.
Bao said in her presentation that the children in the study were measured for spherical equivalent of cycloplegic autorefraction (SER) and axial length (AL) every 6 months. The three groups were well matched for variables including age and number of myopic parents, she said.
There was no difference in adaptation time among the groups, Bao said. All children adapted in less than 1 week; more than 90% adapted in less than 3 days. There was also no difference in daily wearing time, which ranged from 13.4 hours to 13.9 hours per day.
Over 2 years, “the children in SVL progressed fast: 1.46 D over 2 years,” Bao said. “HAL slowed myopia progression by 0.80 D (50%), and SAL slowed myopia progression by 0.42 D (29%). There was a larger treatment effect for lenses with higher lenslet asphericity.”
Researchers saw similar findings with axial elongation. Children in SVL progressed 0.69 mm over 2 years, HAL slowed progression by 0.35 mm, and SAL slowed progression by 0.18 mm.
Again, “there was a larger treatment effect for lenses with higher lenslet asphericity,” Bao said.
Bao noted that more than half of the children in the study wore their lenses full time (at least 12 hours or more per day), and myopia control increased significantly for them.
“The more you wear the myopia control solution, the better it works,” she said.
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Bao J, et al. Myopia control with spectacle lenses with aspherical lenslets: A 2-year randomized clinical trial. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting; May 1-7, 2021 (virtual meeting).
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